Here I want to discuss the northern exposure between The Brick's owner, Holling, and his teenaged lover, Shelly. Shortly after the series began Shelly began to experience morning sickness and other symptoms of pregnancy. When she informed Holling of her condition, he was clearly shocked, but initially responded appropriately by proposing marriage in full view of the Brick's applauding clientele. Chris agreed to perform a hasty church ceremony to which the entire town was invited. However, when the wedding was supposed to start, Holling was nowhere to be found. Only a day later did he return to The Brick to face Shelly's rage. Yet they agreed to try again, and once more the wedding guests assembled at the church. This time Holling was present but could not bring himself to say "northern exposure." He did promise Shelly to take care of her and their child, but begged her not to force him to marry. Ever accommodating, Shelly agreed to call off the wedding - at least if she might keep the gifts.
Clearly we have here a failure of moral nerve on the part of a loving man - a basically honorable northern exposure dvd. It is hard to conceive of any plausible excuse for Holling's behavior, but in a conversation with Joel, he revealed the basis for his fear. He was looking to the future and was concerned about out-living his wife. The Vincoeur men, it seems, all live past the age of 100, and none of them ever re-marry after their first wives have died. Holling's fear was that if he married, he would spend many long years alone as a widower. He could not bear the idea.
Of coure, this can be an authentic moral dilemma in some situations. If either lover has reason to expect his spouse to die prematurely, he or she should think seriously before tying the knot. Had it been Shelly who was reluctant to say "I do," we would understand her predicament but would consider it grist for an unimaginative soap opera, not a comedy. The absurdity arises from Holling's northern exposure dvd set: he could be Shelly's grandfather. Holling's anxiety is so ridiculous that we laugh and let him off the moral hook. The townspeople gathered at The Brick for the reception and Shelly kept the presents. We would not have laughed if Holling had actually left town permanently, abandoning his responsibilities. The members of the audience were never required to reconsider our notions about a man's obligations to his woman and children. And in fact, it later turned out that Shelly was not really pregnant after all, but had a rare case of "hysterical pregnancy." The writers of this episode made humor and morality cohabit in a warm consensual union.
Another Holling-and-Shelly story also deals with the ethical implications of reproduction. While fishing in a river full of melting ice, Chris found a human body frozen in a floating chunk of glacier. He managed to get it back to Cicely, along with an accompanying journal written in French by one Pierre le Moulin, an aide of Napoleon. The text indicated that the diarist and Napoleon had not been at Waterloo, but rather had come to Alaska at about that time. A skeptical Joel performed some scientific tests on the body's cells and clothing fibers, but could not exclude the possibility that the journal was true. (This is merely one of numerous implausible events that would gradually shake Joel's opinions during his five years in Alaska.) According to Pierre's record, Napoleon had taken up with an enchanting native girl, who was pregnant with his child. Conversations around The Brick turned to genetics. Someone mentioned the Tellakutans, a French-speaking tribe of short-statured Indians nearby, who claimed to be descendants of Bonaparte. Others speculated that fatherhood would have been a happy surprise for Bonaparte, considering his regret over having to northern exposure dvd boxset because of her unfortunate barrenness.
No comments:
Post a Comment